Foleo out of control
September 3rd, 2007
I'm a fan of the Foleo concept, but I do have some basic requirements before I get in the trenches with Palm. One of those requirements is a high-quality, full-size keypad that behaves like I expect a laptop keypad to behave. (The need for a good keyboard is why the current competition won't see my money.)
According to those who have handled the Foleo, Palm has put in a nice-feeling keyboard, so they're halfway home. But they seem to have forgotten something when designing the keyboard layout.
There is no Control key. Anywhere.
Without a Control key (or Mac Command key), there is no Ctrl+Backspace to delete the current word when I think of a better stronger one. Without a Ctrl key, there is no Ctrl+X/V to Cut/Paste text. No Ctrl+arrow means I can't hop around quickly within a sentence, and no Ctrl+Shift+Arrow means no keyboard selection of sentences and paragraphs.
I know that the new Menu key is a nifty way to quickly access the menu dropdowns without using the trackpoint. And I know that Linux does not normally use the Windows/Macintosh keyboard shortcuts. But still, we're talking about a laptop-like device that doesn't have Ctrl+A to select all, or Ctrl+Z for undo? How will we undo, anyway? Does it take three key taps? Four?
Furthermore, do we really need TWO Menu keys? Why not put a Ctrl key where the left Menu key is, and then switch the Apps and Alt keys around? Or maybe even go the Happy Hacking route and put a Control key were the Caps-Lock key is. No one needs a dedicated Caps-Lock key these days. A keyboard combo is fine, and I can also type fine with my pinky on the shift key LIKE I'M DOING NOW.
I think those who were hoping to use the Foleo as a writing machine are going to have some issues with the lack of standard keyboard shortcuts. Will there be a way to remap keys? Will software companies like DataViz ignore the left Menu button and use it as a Ctrl key?
So many people have gotten to use the Foleo. Several Palm employees like Ben Combee have been carrying one around for some time now. Has no one missed the Control key?
September 3rd, 2007 at 10:21 am
Don’t panic!
I think you may find that the Menu key doubles as a Ctrl key - it’s the way the Treo keyboard works. After all, those Ctrl-V type shortcuts are just replicating common menu items. On the Treo, you press the key with the Palm menu icon and then the appropriate letter - the menu pops up briefly, highlights the chosen menu item then does the function.
Another example of Palm’s obsession with Treo integration? Perhaps - but if the Foleo is the testbed for Palm OSII, maybe it makes sense…
September 3rd, 2007 at 2:27 pm
You’re probably right about the menu button/letter shortcuts. So Menu + C, X or P will copy/cut/paste. (Although I hope maybe they’ll use the more standard V for paste.)
But I don’t see how this would work with the ctrl+arrow navigation stuff, or ctrl+shift+arrow selecting. Could the menu key still double as a ctrl key for cursor navigation?
September 3rd, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Menu + P for paste didn’t take me long to get used to on my Treo. I suppose with a full-size keyboard, though, your fingers are used to certain things. Maybe V and P will work.
Don’t know about the navigation thing. Maybe they’ll use the alt key?
September 4th, 2007 at 5:39 am
The Menu key is used just like the Control key — it’s actually the same key code, just relabeled on the keyboard. As noted, you can use Menu+X, Menu+C, Menu+V for Cut/Copy/Paste just like on the PC.
Some applications support Menu+arrows for quicker text navigation, although it’s not a standard part of our text field implementation right now.
September 4th, 2007 at 8:30 am
Thanks for stopping by, Ben! It’s good to hear that the Menu key is used like the Control key in many situations. I do hope that Documents to Go and the web browser use the menu+arrow keys for navigation, as well as menu+backspace for word delete. I really can’t live without those shortcuts.
September 4th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
As Ben said, Menu == Ctrl, so no worries there. WTG does support Ctrl + arrows to move around. There are no Home or End keys so what we did was use Alt + right to move to the end of the current line, Alt + left to move to the beginning of the line, Alt + down to move to the end of the document, and Alt + up to move to the beginning of the document.
You can also use Shift in combination with these to do selections as well.
The only things missing are Menu + backspace to delete the previous word and Menu + delete to delete the next word, but at least you can use the shortcuts to select the word and then delete it.